Brown: Britain must reduce food waste

Prior to the G8 conference last week, Gordon Brown announced that Britons must cut back on food waste.

In the face of a credit crisis, rising fuels costs, and soaring food prices, Brown encouraged consumers to make saving food as important as saving energy.

The Prime Minister cited a new Cabinet Office review of food policy, which found that 4.1 million tonnes of food are wasted in the UK every year, costing every UK household £420, or £8 per week.

Food and energy prices across the globe have hit record levels this year; according the UN, the price of staple foods such as wheat and rice has increased by an average of 43% in the last year alone.

It is the poorest around the world and in the UK that are the hardest hit by the crisis.

In the UK, the poorest households spend 15% of their outgoings on food, whilst the richest households spend just 7%.

As well as encouraging the UK to waste less food, Gordon Brown also urged G8 leaders to give more aid to Africa to boost food production across the continent.

Environmental groups have welcomed Brown’s comments, but are concerned that they distract from the more important issue of biofuels, which are a major cause of rising food prices.

Friends of the Earth are also calling for new models of food production that don’t rely on GM or other ‘techno-fixes’.